Electric hair clipper and comb for animal hair

ABSTRACT

An electric hair clipper and associated comb for animal hair which cooperate to determine the length of cut hair and enable the cutting blades of the clipper to move smoothly through thick, tangled, or matted hair without objectionable discomfort. The associated comb is made up of comb guide members arranged in side by side uniformly spaced relation and a suitable attaching means for mounting the members on the clipper in effective relation with the clipper blades. Each comb guide member has a thin lateral dimension for ease of passing through and guiding hair, and a vertical dimension which determines the length of the cut hair. The comb guide members extend forwardly beyond the clipper blades and include return portions which extend upwardly and rearwardly so that hair is lifted, supported and guided by said members to the cutting plane of the clipper blades, and cut before the hair, due to movement of the clipper and comb guide members through the hair, travels to the rearward ends of the members.

nited States Patent [191 Wahl et al.

1 ELECTRIC HAIR CLIPPER AND COMB FOR ANIMAL HAIR [75] Inventors: John F.Wahl; William M. Walton,

both of Sterling, Ill.

[73] Assignee: Wahl Clipper Corporation, Sterling,

Ill.

[ 22] Filed: July 17, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 272,305

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,753,750 4/1930 McArdle .r.30/201 2,747,277 5/1956 Esposito... 30/200 2,918,723 12/1959 Levin..30/200 3,032,875 5/1962 Gwynne 30/200 [451 Oct. 29, 1974 PrimaryExaminer-Al Lawrence Smith Assistant Examiner-J. C. Peters Attorney,Agent, or FirmEdward U. Dithmar [5 7] ABSTRACT An electric hair clipperand associated comb for animal hair which cooperate to determine thelength of cut hair and enable the cutting blades of the clipper to movesmoothly through thick, tangled, or matted hair without objectionablediscomfort. The associated comb is made up of comb guide membersarranged in side by side uniformly spaced relation and a suitableattaching means for mounting the members on the clipper in effectiverelation with the clipper blades. Each comb guide member has a thinlateral dimension for ease of passing through and guiding hair, and avertical dimension which determines the length of the cut hair. The combguide members extend forwardly beyond the clipper blades and includereturn portions which extend upwardly and rearwardly so that hair islifted, supported and guided by said members to the cutting plane of theclipper blades, and out before the hair, due to movement of the clipperand comb guide members through the hair, travels to the rearward ends ofthe members.

1 Claim, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTED 001-29 I974 FIG. 5

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an electric hairclipPer and associated comb for animal hair, and more particularly to aclipper and comb which establish the length of the cut hair andcooperate to enable the clipper to move smoothly through usually thick,tangled, or matted hair without objectionable discomfort.

The electric clipper and comb of the invention cause an animal hairclipping operation to be significantly more comfortable to the subjectthan otherwise.

Hair clipper combs of plastic and metal have been devised forestablishing the length of cut hair, but such combs have not beensatisfactory when used for cutting animal hair. Thick, tangled, ormatted hair tends to bunch up with such combs and not be fed into andcut by the clipper blades, causing extreme discomfort in many cases. Theclosest prior art known to applicants is believed to be US. Pat. No.2,731,7l 7, disclosing a razor blade type human hair cutter providedwith a cage or guard to prevent skin cutting and to establish varyinglengths of cut.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention contemplates an electric hairclipper and associated comb for thick, tangled, matted animal hair, theclipper having lower stationary and upper movable blades with cuttingteeth meeting to form a cutting plane. The comb comprises a number(usually less than two-thirds the number of teeth in the lower clipperblade) of comb guide members arranged in side by side uniformly spacedrelation and a suitable attaching means for mounting the members on theclipper in effective relation with the clipper blades.

Each comb guide member has smooth surfaces with rounded edges and a thinlateral dimension for ease of entering and guiding hair, and a lowerportion spaced vertically from the cutting plane of the teeth a distanceto obtain a desired cut length. The lower portion of each member extendsforwardly beyond the clipper blades and merges into a return portionextending upwardly and rearwardly above and beyond the teeth of themovable blade, whereby hair, due to movement of clipper and comb guidemembers through the hair, is lifted, supported and guided by the membersinto the cutting plane of the blades and cut by the blade teeth beforethe hair travels to the rearward ends of the return portions of themembers.

The vertical dimension of the return portion of each comb guide memberdesirably is as small as reasonably possible. so hair may be guided withminimal resistance into the cutting plane of the teeth. Also, the returnportion is particularly smooth and burr-free, whereby hair may slidealong same with minimal resistance.

The return portion of at least one of the comb guide members engages thehousing of the clipper as an aid in positioning. Also, the returnportion of at least one of the comb guide members is adapted to engage aportion of the hair clipper in response to forces tending to separatethe comb guide members from the clipper, whereby such tendency isresisted.

Inasmuch as hair is cut before reaching the end of the return portionsof the comb guide members, there is no snagging of hair and clipper whenthe latter is withdrawn from a hair mass.

In more detailed aspect, highly satisfactory commercial embodiments ofthe invention have a stationary blade with about twenty teeth and aboutfive-ten comb guide members.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a fragmentary sideelevational view of a hair clipper and associated comb embodying theinvention.

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary bottom view of the clipper and comb shown inFIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the comb, taken generally on line3-3 of FIG. 2, showing the comb in mounted position on the clipper.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are perspective views of the comb shown in FIGS. 1-3.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIGS. l-3, a comb10 is shown mounted on a hair clipper 11 having a lower stationary blade12 with cutting teeth 13 (FIG. 2) and an upper movable blade 14 withcutting teeth 15 (FIG. 2). The cutting teeth 13 and 15 meet in bearingrelation to form a cutting plane 16 (FIG. 1) therebetween.

Clipper 11 includes a housing 18 having a part 20 (FIG. 1) whichoverlies a portion of movable blade 14, leaving exposed the forwardportion of the blade including teeth 15.

Referring to FIGS. 3-5, comb 10 includes an attaching means 25 formounting the comb on clipper 11 in effective relation with clipperblades 12 and 14 (FIGS. 1 and 2). As shown by way of example, attachingmeans 25 is a transverse member 25a having spring clips 26 and 27 atopposite ends, the latter adapted to clamp onto hair clipper 11, forexample onto stationary blade I2.

A plurality of comb guide members 30 are secured as by insert molding,for example, to attaching means 25 in side by side uniformly spacedrelation. Comb guide members 30, as shown, are five in number. Theprecise number is subject to variation, and should be less thantwo-thirds the number of teeth 13 in lower blade 12 so comb 10 will havelow resistance to entering hair. The number of teeth in lower blade 12may be about twenty, for example.

Each comb guide member 30 has a thin lateral dimension for ease ofentering and guiding hair, and a lower portion 31 which is spacedvertically from cutting plane 16 (FIG. 1) a distance to obtain desiredcut length. This distance, of course, will vary for combs providingdifferent cut lengths.

Lower portion 31 of each comb guide member 30 extends forwardly beyondthe ends of blades 12 and 14, as shown at 33 in FIG. 1, and merges at 33with an arcuate apex into a return portion 35 extending upwardly andrearwardly above and beyond teeth 15 of movable cutting blade 14, againas best shown in FIG. 1. The vertical dimension of return portion 35desirably is as small as reasonably possible so hair may be lifted andguided with minimal resistance into the cutting plane between the bladeteeth.

Comb 10 has return portion 35 of at least one comb guide member 30 ofsuch length as to engage housing part 20, as shown in FIG. 1. Suchengagement aids in positioning comb 10.

Also, return edge portion 35 of at least one comb guide member 30 has alower edge 40 adapted to engage a part of clipper 11 in response toforces tending to separate comb from the clipper, thereby resisting thetendency and maintaining comb 10 in place.

ln a preferred embodiment, comb guide members 30 are stampings fromhardened stainless steel sheet stock of thickness about 0.020 inch,deburred and polished, which are secured to attaching means by insertmolding.

From the above description it is thought that the construction andadvantages of this invention will be readily apparent to those skilledin the art. Various changes in detail may be made without departing fromthe spirit or losing the advantages of the invention.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desiredto secure by Letters Patent is:

I. An electric hair clipper and associated comb for thick, tangled,matted animal hair, comprising:

an electric hair clipper having a housing, a lower stationary blade withcutting teeth and an upper movable blade with cutting teeth, the teethof the two blades engaging to form a cutting plane;

comb guide members arranged side by side in uniformly spaced relationtransversely of said blades, the number of comb guide members beingabout one-fourth the number of cutting teeth in said stationary blade;

attaching means interconnecting said comb guide members and detachablymounting them on said clipper in effective relation with said blades;

said comb guide members each having smooth surfaces, rounded edges and athin lateral dimension for ease of passing through said guiding hair, alower portion spaced from said cutting plane a distance to obtaindesired cut length, said lower portion extending forwardly a distancebeyond said cutting teeth and merging into a return portion extendingupwardly and rearwardly above and beyond the teeth of said movableblade, said return portion of vertical dimension as small as reasonablypossible to minimize resistance to entering hair;

the return portion of at least one of said comb guide members engagingsaid housing to aid in positioning said comb guide members;

the return portion of at least one of said comb guide members engaging aportion of said clipper in response to forces tending to separate saidcomb guide members from said clipper, whereby such tendency is resisted;

whereby thick, tangled, or matted hair, due to movement of said combguide members through the hair, is lifted, supported and guided by saidmembers into said cutting plane and cut by said teeth before travelingto the rearward ends of said return portions of said members.

1. An electric hair clipper and associated comb for thick, tangled,matted animal hair, comprising: an electric hair clipper having ahousing, a lower stationary blade with cutting teeth and an uppermovable blade with cutting teeth, the teeth of the two blades engagingto form a cutting plane; comb guide members arranged side by side inuniformly spaced relation transversely of said blades, the number ofcomb guide members being about one-fourth the number of cutting teeth insaid stationary blade; attaching means interconnecting said comb guidemembers and detachably mounting them on said clipper in effectiverelation with said blades; said comb guide members each having smoothsurfaces, rounded edges and a thin lateral dimension for ease of passingthrough said guiding hair, a lower portion spaced from said cuttingplane a distance to obtain desired cut length, said lower portionextending forwardly a distance beyond said cutting teeth and merginginto a return portion extending upwardly and rearwardly above and beyondthe teeth of said movable blade, said return portion of verticaldimension as small as reasonably possible to minimize resistance toentering hair; the return portion of at least one of said comb guidemembers engaging said housing to aid in positioning said comb guidemembers; the return portion of at least one of said comb guide membersengaging a portion of said clipper in response to forces tending toseparate said comb guide members from said clipper, whereby suchtendency is resisted; whereby thick, tangled, or matted hair, due tomovement of said comb guide members through the hair, is lifted,supported and guided by said members into said cutting plane and cut bysaid teeth before traveling to the rearward ends of said return portionsof said members.